Monday, May 20, 2013

Indian Chinese cuisine is said to have originated in Calcutta in the early 1900s – dishes cooked by Hakka immigrants that were gradually adapted to local Indian tastes. Today, Indian Chinese cuisine has spread all over India – and to much of Malaysia and Singapore too – but you won’t have to head overseas to try it. Hustle on down to Indian Chopsticks, set in a converted fibro cottage in Harris Park. The suburb is fast becoming a 'Little India' with Indian restaurants, dessert houses and grocery stores dotted everywhere you look.

Manchurian chicken $13.90

Manchurian chicken is the quintessential Indian Chinese dish. It’s a jumble of chicken fillets stir-fried with ginger, garlic, green chilli and fresh coriander. You can choose to have it drenched (wet) or sparse (dry) with sauce. Our waitress recommends it dry.

Chilli chicken $13.90

Chilli chicken is all about the gravy it’s drenched in – thick and soupy with slices of crunchy capsicum and plenty of soy sauce.

Sichuan lamb $13.90

You won’t find any beef on the menu, but there’s plenty of lamb for red-meat eaters. Go old-school with Mongolian lamb and salt-and-pepper crispy lamb strips, or spice things up with Sichuan sauce, a red sauce amped with garlic and chilli.

American chop suey with chicken $10.90

American chop suey is as good – or as bad – as you think deep-fried noodles with a saucy stir fry and a fried egg on top could be. It’s all kinds of crunch and texture, but the sauce errs a little on the sweet side for our taste.

Gobi 65 $7.50

Vegetarians are well looked after too. The Gobi 65 is a stand-out: cauliflower florets marinated in a spicy masala and then deep-fried to a nutty crunch.

I haven't heard of the Indian Chinese fusion before. It's definitely got me intrigued. And yes, Harris Park has quite the few Indian restaurants. I'm slowly tackling them down one by one.. with this one added to the list!

I really need to get to Harris Park more often -- it's right on our doorstep really. I've seen an Indian Chinese restaurant in another 'burb where I used to live, and the restaurant looked SO dodgy I've been dubious about the cuisine ever since. It looks pretty good to me.

I live in Calcutta (Kolkata now) and I have to say, nothing beats Calcutta Chinese when you eat it straight off the wok. Fresh produce, crisp ingredients, and perfectly done meat says it all. However what I see here is not really to my liking. A Calcutta Chinese restaurant will NEVER harbor Gobi 65. Its essentially a South Indian dish.

The Sweet corn chicken soup is quite popular here, but a true-blood Calcutta Chinese restaurant must have Thai Soup (that is what it should be written on the menu), consisting of fat shreds of chicken, prawns/crabs, cilantro in a rich, thick broth and some MSG thrown in, because Chinese food here is incomplete without MSG.

And also Thread Chicken and Spring Chicken. Two Calcutta Chinese staples. I saw Manchurian and Chilli Chicken, which are the flagship notes, but the menu should have Chilli Garlic Pepper Chicken to really up the amp, so as to say.